Allen continues impressive form at Crucible

Ireland's Mark Allen leads 5-3 against 2006 champion Graeme Dott after the first session of his Crucible quarter-final in Sheffield today.

Nobody has played as consistently well as Allen so far in this tournament, with the 24-year-old dropping just nine frames in his opening two wins.

He showed further flashes of inspiration against Dott, who had crushed world number two and fellow Scot Stephen Maguire in the previous round.

Allen, also a losing semi-finalist last year, had breaks of 66, 58 and 54 in establishing an emphatic 4-0 interval lead.

Dott responded well by winning three in a row, launching his fightback with a break of 76, before Allen fired in 100 in take the final frame, ahead of the middle session of the match this evening.